The Quorum Report has put together a nice page of candidates for all the various offices up for grabs in 2006. There’s a few omissions and oversights, and with new candidates jumping in all the time it’ll be a bear to maintain, but right now it’s a pretty decent picture of how things are shaping up. Here’s a quick peek at the legislative races:
For Congress, there’s one Democratic primary challenge (CD28), two Republicans challenging an incumbent Democrat (CDs 17 and 20), and with the announcement linked above of entrants into CDs 03 and 04, ten Democrats challenging incumbent Republicans (CDs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 14, 21, 22, and 31). There are no open seats or Republican primary challenges at this time (CD22 may yet have one). Looking at the Sharp/Dewhurst numbers from 2002 that were also included, CD23 is the district with the highest Democratic performance index that still lacks a contestant.
For the State House, we have:
– Fourteen Democratic challengers to Republican incumbents (HDs 20, 32, 52, 60, 68, 84, 88, 93, 96, 102, 107, 129, 134, 144).
– Four open seats currently held by Republicans which have at least one contestant from each party (HDs 47 and 48, which are cattle calls, 126, and 133).
– One open Democratic seat with only Democratic contenders (HD42).
– Four Democratic primary challenges (HDs 27, 39, 75, 146).
– One Democratic seat with a special election next week that will surely see a primary challenge in March (HD143).
– Five Republican challengers to Democratic incumbents (HDs 3, 50, 69, 85, 149 – that would be a Vo/Heflin rematch according to this).
– Three open Republican seats with only Republican challengers (HDs 54, 71 and 91).
– Six Republican primary challenges (HDs 2, 4, 10, 56, 72, 83).
HD16, held by Ruben Hope, shows two Republican challengers. As I understand it, Hope is in line for a judicial appointment, meaning his seat would be open and in need of a special election. I should really separate HD48 as well, since it will also see a special election, but I expect it will be challenged next November regardless of who wins it next spring.
From a Run Everywhere perspective, this is all looking pretty good. HD9, held by Roy Blake, is the most Democratic district without a Dem running as yet, and there are a few others where Sharp got at least 46% which still lack, but overall the Dems are in the much better position of candidate recruitment. It’s only in the Senate, where there’s all of two challenged seats so far – SD1s (Madla) and 19 (Armbrister) where so far there’s not even a potential for gain.
Like I said, it’s a useful resource, one which I hope they try to update as things change. Check it out and leave a comment if you know of a candidate who should be there but isn’t; note that I’ve accounted for a couple of those above – follow the links as needed.
I’m in HD 24, and no one has stepped up to challenge Larry Taylor. He’s a DeLay shill… and one of the $20K check recipients. And from the Galveston Dems: “running a gratuitous opponent could hurt us in other county wide races”
It makes me want to pull my hair out. It looks like they’re just going to let it go.
If I had the money to file, I’d sure as hell put my name on the ballot.